We recently came across this beautiful origami installation at the Crow Collection in Dallas where our CEO and Creative Director, Jessica Jesse, gave a speech on 'mindfulness during the Susan Bauers' 'Mindfulness Matters' lecture.  This installation was so pretty we have not been able to stop thinking about.  We love it's simple beauty. We think about the time, focus, perseverance and patience it took to create every single one of those cranes. It is a magical experience to walk through it.

Origami is a beautiful art form for so many reasons. Not only are you creating a three-dimensional shape from something a two-dimensional (like magic!) but you are also engaging in a kind of meditation if you create the same figure over and over again.  Your mind relaxes because it knows what it is doing and your hands do the busy work. Origami represents a metamorphosis not only for the piece of paper but also for the folder. We are changed after our project as we are more relaxed and focused. Repetition liberates our mind.

I wondered why the crane is such an important figure in origami (learn to make one here, you will be happy you did it and then delight someone by giving it away and then delight in teaching this to a child!). The traditional meaning of the crane has always been long life and therefore, happiness. Cranes are folded and sent to sick people to express a wish for their recovery and it is said that if a sick person folds a thousand paper cranes then he or she will get better. A thousand paper cranes can also be given as a wedding gift to wish a thousand years of happiness and prosperity upon the couple. How beautiful!  Wouldn't you love to get one thousand paper cranes in the mail as well wishes?

To learn more about ancient legend 'One thousand paper cranes and one thousand years of happiness' read here.

Who doesn't want a happy and long life?  Maybe we need to start folding our crane collection today.